Restless
by komiket
Summary: Drabble prompt - restless. EDI is interested in learning how the human body works. Can take place during or after ME3.


The feeling of a weight on his chest woke him up. It felt like…EDI's head? He cracked his eyes open and peeked out. Yup, it was her - he couldn't see her all that well but he could hear her fingers flexing.

"Hey."

"Hello, Jeff."

"What're you doing?" He tried to watch her movements past his cheekbones, but he couldn't see a thing.

"Assessing the best way to snap a human's neck." She drawled, with a light inflection of her voice at the end. So, she's only half joking…

"I knew this day would come. Just, be quick about it?"

"I always aim to be efficient." she singsonged. He would've kept ribbing her, the two of them were always trying to get the last punchline, but then he felt her fingertips touch his Adam's apple. It gave him goosebumps, made him gulp.

"Remain still, please." She danced her fingers gently and slowly, barely brushing along his neck, seeking something out.

"Seriously, EDI…"

"I am attempting to find your pulse."

"Because?"

"I wish to feel your heartbeat."

"I kinda guessed that part. Any specific reason?" She ignored him at first. Damn, that meant she was over-thinking something…

"Charts I have consulted say there is a notable point on the neck where it can be easily found. Ah, I believe this is it." she pushed her fingers in, making him flinch slightly. She shifted her head on his chest, her hair making a electrical crinkling noise as it caught on his shirt.

"Ah. Truly profound. I can feel your heart beating, Jeff."

"Oh good, I wasn't sure if I was alive or not, you know?"

"Your pulse is slightly elevated…"

"Yeah, kinda tend to get like that when there's a hot robot chick laying on top of me…especially if she's treating me like a lab rat. Real kinky." Actually he was more nervous than anything but she didn't need to know that.

He could hear her blink a few times too quickly. He always took that to mean she was close to smiling, like her version of laughing under her breath.

"Can you please slow it down - I want to measure it in it's normal state."

"I can't just - it doesn't work that way, EDI - oh, alright, fine, I'll try. Gimmie a minute." He closed his eyes and tried to relax, to breathe slower and deeper.

They stayed in silence for a few moments.

"I can hear your organs working as well. I did not know the sound would be so audible. It's easy to measure." she mused, softly. "This is such an amazing piece of machinery."

"Yeah, your hands are awesome like that."

"No. I am not referring to myself. I mean you. I had once found this platform to be the most complex humanoid body I would ever have a chance to study, but I must correct that opinion now. My platform is quite exemplary, but it is nothing compared to the intricate device that is yours. This body is a tool, it was built as such. Yours, however, is the sole way in which you exist. That alone is awe-inspiring. Your body is your life. I…appreciate it greatly."

That was…yeah. Wow.

He never really knew how to put into words his responses to her complicated philosophical speeches, so, he simply reached up to put his hand over hers, and tried.

"I wouldn't knock yours so fast…we wouldn't be doing this right now without it. I'm quite the fan, you know." He was. It just fit her personality perfectly. The sounds, the way light played across her skin, the amazing mystery of her hair, those big eyelashes, not to mention those curves…

She even smelled good. Like the ship, in fact. It was too hot for him to worry about it being weird.

"Yes, perhaps you are also correct. Using this body has allowed me to evolve in ways that would have been impossible under any other set of conditions. Still, I am now unsure of how it truly compares with an organic's."

"I can think of a few ways we could…'compare' the two. If you come up here we could, uh, do some testing…"

"I am 'up here' already. Technically, our faces are on the same aligned-"

He snorted out of frustration. Every single time…

EDI considered for a moment.

"Ah, I now understand what you're implying. Seeing as your pulse increased again…"

"Stop trying to ruin the mood," he said through a smile.

"Understood…" she sat up, and then moved her face in closer to his, their eyes locked.


End file.
